The title of the thread was, “Weird sensation feels good” and attracted over 300 replies. The content of these initial replies quickly created a clear and consistent description of ASMR which still accurately describes ASMR today.

Some of the participants in the thread, such as Jennifer Allen and Andrew MacMuiris, spawned out and developed resources which were monumental to the growth and understanding of ASMR.

Overall, this forum thread lead directly to the following ASMR milestones:

The article focuses mostly on ASMR artists (Emma whispersredasmr, Maria gentlewhispering, & Laura Stone) and the art of ASMR, with some minor mentions related to the science of ASMR.

A neuroscience professor provided his thoughts about the mechanism of ASMR. Quote from the article:

“Frances McGlone, professor of neuroscience at Liverpool John Moores University. I contacted him because I hoped he might be able to explain the mechanism which produces such a distinctive physical reaction from such a diverse range of stimuli. He couldn’t, because no-one has researched the question. “In a quick look on the more respected search engines for published scientific research I couldn’t find anything that supported a neurobiological basis for why these sensory experiences should be provoked by observing these ASMR videos,” he tells me.

McGlone further expressed concern about home-brewed alternative therapies in general and a potential erotic element of ASMR. Quote from the article:

Jennifer Allen coined the term “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response” in 2010. Prior to this the head tingles that most people now call ASMR went by a variety of terms including brain orgasm, attention-induced head orgasm, attention-induced euphoria, that unnamed feeling, and of course, head tingles.

Is ASMR a better term than these prior terms? Is ASMR the best term possible? Could a better term be coined to describe this sensation?

I won’t hold my judgement until the end of this post. I will tell you right now.